Baling machines



Oct. 20, 1959 Filed Dec. 10, 1957 w. N. POWELL ETAL BALING MACHINES 4Sheets-Sheet 1 warez non Pduzu.

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HENRY ANDE'R TON mvsmons ATTORNEY Oct. 20, 1959 Filed Dec. 10, 1957 W;N.,POWELL ETAL BALING MACHINES 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 ALL/Ml F Pam-1..

Hewny ANfiEAM INVENTORS A woedy ab- ATTORNEY Oct. 20, 1959 w, POWELLETAL 2,909,115

BALING MACHINES 4 Sheets-Sheet 3 Filed Dec. 10, 1957 WAI. TEA N Po ALM/vF POWELL;

HENRY/7ND! TON INVENTORS ATTORNEY Oct. 20, 1959 w. N. POWELL ETAL2,909,115

BALING MACHINES Filed Dec. 10, 1957 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 WMTER N PAMELAALLAN F P0 0544 HFNEYANAERM INVENTOH ATTORNEY United States PatentBALlNG MACHINES Walter Noel Powell, St. Helens, Allan Frederick Powell,

iston, near Prescot, and Henry Anderton, Kirkby, England ApplicationDecember 10, 1957, Serial No. 701,787 6 Claims. (Cl. 100-20) twine intimed relationship with the operation of the knotters. Machines of thiskind may conveniently be divided into two groups.

In one group the needle yoke is directly coupled by a connecting rod orpitman to a crank on the knotter shaft, with the consequential resultthat it is impossible continuously to operate the plunger or ram incompressing the fibre within the baling chamber and at the same timeachieve tying of the baling twine around the compressed bales when thelatter are under maximum compression, i.e. at one end of each stroke ofthe ram. Thus with a construction of this kind it is necessary either tostop the ram when achieving maximum compression of the material beingbaled and to effect tying while the ram is stopped, thereby impairingthe output of the machine to the extent of one stroke of the ram eachcompressed bale or, as an alternative, tying must be achieved other thanat maximum compression of the bale so as to return the needle to therest position before the ram commences its next working stroke. Eitherselection, therefore, presents disadvantages and the former has anadditional drawback that with automatically operated machines the firstfeed of each bale in the making, following a completed bale, must betwice as large as is necessary in the formation of a neat bale, 1

thereby involving additional work or loading on the ram. Again withdirect coupling of the crank on the knotter shaft with the needle yokeit is impossible for the connecting rod to retain full control of theneedle to give precise needle setting throughout its entire movement andparticularly when, during said movement, the elements of the directcoupling are on a straight line passing through the axis rotation of theneedle yoke.

In the other group the knotter shaft has a cam the follower of which isfixed to a bell crank coupled to the needle yoke by a connecting rod. Inconstructions of this kind the profile of the cam is of necessity severewith the result that a heavy strain is imparted to the mating componentsand assemblies causing play or worn joints after a relatively shortworking life to the detriment of precision in needle adjustment.

The primary object of the present invention is to retain the benefits ofthe known constructions without their respective disadvantages, and inparticular firstly to insert the baling twine into its retainer or clampfor the tying operation at the instant when the fibre in the balingchamber is under maximum compression from the reciprocating ram orplunger, and return the needle to its inoperative or rest positionbefore the ram commences its working stroke, secondly to retain maximumcontrol of the needle throughout its entire cycle of operations andparticularly when the ram is at the end of its com-: pression stroke,and thirdly to facilitate precise adjustment of the needle relatively tothe knotter.

According to the present invention a roller or pin revolving with, andabout the axis of, the knotter shaft engages with a curved track orslide of a sprocket or the like rotary member which in turn is coupled,by an endless chain or the like flexible driving means, to the shaftabout which the needle yoke is angularly displaced, the curvature orprofile of the track or slide being such. that reciprocatory motion isimparted to both rotary' members associated with the flexible drive onunidirectional rotation of the knotter shaft.

In this way reciprocatory arcuate displacement of each needle about theaxis of the shaft on which its:

yoke is mounted may be initiated at any desired position, of rotationofthe knotter shaft, and as the latter is displaceable in unison withthe ram or plunger it follows that each needle may commence itsoperative movement at any position of the ram determined by thecurvature or profile of the roller track or slide.

The invention is more particularly described with reference to theaccompanying drawings which illustrate one form of construction by wayof example and in which:

Figures l-6 illustrate diagrammatically successive stages in thelongitudinal displacement of the ram or plunger during its finalcompression stroke and the relative positions of angular displacement ofthe knotter shaft about its own axis together with the relativepositions of the needle at each of said successive stages.

Figure 7 is a perspective from the view showing the relationship betweenthe knotter shaft and one of the rotary members of the flexible drive atone stage of angular displacement of said shaft.

Figure 8 is a perspective view taken from another position of the sameelements and at the same stage of angular displacement ofthe knottershaft, this perspective View showing a knotter and a twine retainingmember carried by a body on, and rotating with, said shaft.-

Figure 9 is a side view of the mechanism shown in Figures 7 and 8 in aposition consistent with the first stage of the operative association ofthe various parts as diagrammatically represented in Figure 1.

In the drawings the knotter shaft is shown at 10 and? has mounted on ita body 11 carrying the knotter (not shown) and a twine retainer whichcomprises a stationary base 12 and a hook member 13 angularlydisplaceable about an axis 14 with respect to said base (Figure 8) whenit is desired to operate the knotter,

' the said hook member 13 being normally maintained under pressureagainst the base 12 by means of a spring 15 until it is desired toreduce said pressure during the required period of the knotting andtwine severing operation when the spring .15 is automatically displaced.A

knotter assembly of this kind has already been proposed and forms nopart of the present invention.

The shaft 10 has rotating with it a crank 16 carrying a pin or roller 17which engages within a curved roller track or slide constituted by aslotted arm projecting radially at its inner end 18 from a drivingsprocket 19, or from a plate rigidly connected to or integral with saidsprocket, the remaining part 20 of said arm being curved to extend aboutan arc subtending an angle of approximately about the axis of theknotter shaft 10 and in a direction opposite to the direction ofrotation of said shaft as indicated by the arrow 21.

The sprocket 19 is connected by an endless chain 2 2, I the tension ofwhich is varied in any desired manner such '7 as for example by themeans shown in Figure 7 with a Patented Oct. 20, 1959 smaller sprocket23, the shaft 24 of which carries an arm 25 at the outer end of which ismounted a needle yoke 26. It will be seen that on angular displacementof the sprocket 19 in a clockwise direction about its axis the needleyoke is angularly displaced about the shaft 24 in-a clockwise directionbut to a greater extent dependent upon the ratio of the effectivediameters which has been predetermined for the sprockets 19, .23. Thuswith one complete rotation of the sprocket shaft about its axis the pinor roller 17 revolves once around said axis and in so doing it impartsto the curved track or slide 18, 2A a to and fro arcuate movement aboutthe axis of the sprocket 19 and with a'dwell at the end of the returnmovement, thereby causing the needle yoke 26 to be given a reciprocatingdisplacement over a greater arc or throw than that of the track orslide, dependent on the predetermined selection of the relative sprocketsizes, and with a similar dwell at the end of the return displacement ofthe needle yoke to its inoperative position.

In the example illustrated in the drawings the roller track 18, 20 andits sprocket 19 are angularly displaced to and fro about the axis of thelatter through an arc of approximately 85 during three-quarters of acomplete rotation of the knotter shaft 10 while the pin or roller 17engages with the inner end 13 of the track and remains stationary duringthe remainder of said rotation, i.e. while the pin 17 engages with thecurved part 20 of the track. Further in the particular constructionillustrated, the relative sizes of the sprockets 19, 23 are such thatthe needle yoke is rotated through an arc of 118 simultaneously with thereciprocatory arcuate movement of the track or slide through a stroke of85. An arcuate displacement of this extent is sufficient to displaceeach needle 26 wholly into and out of the region of the twine retaineror clamp.

The baling chamber is diagrammatically indicated at 27 and the ram forcompressing the bales within the chamber is shown at 28. The ram isslotted longitudinally to permit the needle to pass through it from oneside to the other when the ram lies in the arcuate path of travel of theneedle 26 and the twine 31 carried thereby about the axis of the shaft24. It is driven through connecting rods 29, 30 from a power source (notshown) which may be the power take-01f from a tractor adapted to haulthe machine or may be on the machine itself. This power source is alsoadapted to drive the knotter shaft 10 through a trip device (not shown)which energizes the shaft 10 solely after a predetermined number ofstrokes of the ram have been completed for partially compressing thebale built up within the chamber 27 and the ram is about to commence itsfinal stroke of compression on said bale. At such time the trip deviceis operated whereby the shaft 10 is caused to make a complete rotationabout its axis before becoming de-energised.

The actual sequence of operations in succession is represented byFigures 1-6. .Thus in Figure 1 the ram 28 has started on its finalcompression stroke to compress a bale within the chamber 27 and duringthis portion of the stroke of the ram the knotter shaft 10 rotates in ananticloclcwise direction with the pin or roller 17 located within thearcuate portion 20 of the track carried by the sprocket 19. As a resultthe latter remains stationary. The sprocket 19 commences to rotate in aclockwise direction about its own shaft when the pin or roller 17 entersthe straight or radial inner end 18 of the track as shown in Figure 2and in this positon the ram has travelled beyond the mid point of itscompression stroke and into the path of the rotatable needle 26. Furtheranticlockwise rotation of the shaft 10 and displacement of the ram 28bring the elements into the positions shown at Figures 3 and 4, and inthe latter figure the ram is shown in its extreme forward positionconsistent with maximum compression of a bale within the chamber 27. Itis in this position that the acts of tying the bale by means of thetwine 31 fed to the knotter 12, 13, and severing of the twine, are aboutto be accomplished.

In completing a single rotation in an anti-clockwise direction through360 the shaft 10 through the pin or roller 17 causes the track 18 andsprocket 19 to rotate about the axis of the latter, but in ananti-clockwise direction, i.e. opposed to their earlier movement and inthe result the needle 26 is brought back to its inoperative position ofrest through the positions illustrated successively in Figures 5 and 6.During this period the ram 28 is retracted as shown.

It will be appreciated that variations or modifications of theconstruction described and illustrated in the drawings may be adoptedwithout departing from the scope and spirit of the invention. Thespecification and drawings accordingly should be regarded in anillustrative rather than a restrictive sense.

We claim:

1. In a baling machine having a repeatedly reciprocated ram forcompressing a bale to be tied, a knotter shaft intermittently rotatedthrough a single revolution in one direction and a needle yoke mountedfor swinging movement about a related shaft; the combination of a rotarymember, a curved track defining member fixed to said rotary member formovement with the latter, a drive member slidably engaging in saidcurved track and being fixed to the knotter shaft at a location spacedradially from the axis of the latter to turn with the knotter shaft andthereby effect oscillation of said rotary member in response to rotationof the knotter shaft in said one direction, and flexible transmissionmeans between said rotary member and the needle yoke so that the latteris oscillated upon oscillation of said rotary member.

2. In a baling machine, the combination as in claim 1; wherein saidflexible transmission means includes a drive chain engaging said rotarymember and driven by the latter, and a sprocket fixed relative to theshaft of the needle yoke and turnable about the axis thereof, saidsprocket being engaged by said drive chain.

3. In a baling machine, the combination as in claim 2; wherein saidrotary member has a generally circular periphery engaged by said drivechain, and said rotary member further includes means adjustabletangentially relative to said periphery of the rotary member andsecuring the opposite ends of the drive chain to the rotary member,thereby to provide for adjustment of the tension in said drive chain.

4. In a baling machine, the combination as in claim 1; wherein saidtrack includes a relatively straight portion extending radially withrespect to the axis of said rotary member and a curved end portionhaving a radius of curvature approximately equal to the radial distanceof said drive member from said axis of the knotter shaft so that saidrotary member is oscillated, during movement of said drive member alongsaid relatively straight portion of the track, and remains stationaryduring movement of the drive member along said curved end portion of thetrack.

5. In a baling machine, the combination as in claim 4; wherein saidcurved end portion of the track has an angular extent of approximatelydegrees.

6. In a baling machine, the combination as in claim 4; wherein'said axisof the rotary member is parallel to, and spaced from the axis of theknotter shaft by a dis tance greater than said radial distance from thedrive member to the axis of the knotter shaft so that said rotary memberhas a single to and fro oscillation imparted thereto during a singlerevolution of the knotter shaft in said one direction.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS2,770,184 Smith Nov. 13, 1956 2,780,164 Schaaf Feb. 5, 1957

